Father of the Bride (1950)

Father Of The Bride(1950)- Tracy was awesome as usual, though Taylor didn't get to look as glamorous as she did in other films(Of course that wasn't her character anyway.)

Overall the film was enjoyable and better than the remake(s). Plus I dig Minnellis elegant direction, I like the elegance of most Golden Age directors though here Minnelli isn't as noticeable as he is in his musicals.

There's not much to write about this film, its a simple enjoyable comedy and now Im pretty much just wasting space so that my review will be accepted lol.

Fmovies: What a cute movie. What separates it from all the TV sitcoms that were to follow is the care, time, and expense that went into all aspects of the production. (Except that it was shot on the MGM lot, which would have made more money as a theme park than a shopping mall.) Followers of the more popular TV sitcoms become familiar with the various characters over the course of episodes, sometimes over the course of years. But Minnelli and his cast and crew had to squeeze everything we learn about the characters into an hour and a half so they had a lot more work to do. The audience couldn't take the characters' traits for granted, like Jack Benny's stinginess, Ralph Kramden's bluster, Lucy's mishchievousness, Ted Baxter's vanity, or Archie Bunker's ethnocentricity. In a feature film it all had to be shown first, and then developed in the course of one long episode, so to speak.

This was one of a series of what might be called upper-middle-class comedies, which included "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House." "Father of the Bride" crafts and executes the jokes almost flawlessly.

Want to see a great example of intuitive acting, one that probably took more than a few takes? Watch the bedroom scene before the wedding in which Spencer Tracy wakes his wife and tells her how worried he is that their daughter's, Elizabeth Taylor's, fiancé is basically an unknown in their lives. "He's a charming boy," replies Bennet, the wife. "Charm, eh?" Tracy shoots back and unleashes his anxiety. "That's just what these guys have got. Oh, lots of charm. Probably got a criminal record," and so on until he winds up with, "Just the kind of guy who'll probably put a bullet in the back of her neck." Then he rolls over and goes to sleep. What a performance. Tracy rolls around frantically while talking, fluffing his pillows, settling back and then sitting up again, shaking the blankets, scowling at his wife. In TV, there simply isn't enough TIME to devote to a single scene like that, nor are the performers usually up to Tracy's standards.

The same goes for the direction. Watch the scene of the wedding rehearsal at the church. It is, as Tracy despondently describes it afterwards, "utter and complete chaos." The scene lasts a good four minutes and involves at least a dozen characters who must learn how to walk in a particular way and recite their lines appropriately. It's both maddening and hilarious. And it's all done with no more than one or two cuts. Minelli's camera simply sits there and captures the insanity in long takes. How many were required, we'll never know, but certainly there were more tries than "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" could afford.

Not much is required of the rest of the cast. Tracy is the main show and he provides the narration. But Elizabeth Taylor is drop-dead gorgeous. Russ Tamblyn doesn't have many lines as her younger brother but he has one of the best. Tracy and Taylor have a minor row and Taylor huffs off. "Well, what's the matter with HER?" asks Tracy. And Tamblyn gets to say in his whiny adolescent voice, suggesting knowledge beyond his years, "She's nervous. ALL women are nervous." If you haven't seen this yet, don't miss your next chance.

In one of his best performances, Spencer Tracy carries this film to be better than it would have been in other hands as the nervous and scared father of the bride. His wonderful mixture of firmness and gentleness make him a lovable character that we all can relate to. He gives us the feelings that he is experiencing while his only daughter, whom he was very close to as she grew up, gets married and leaves his life. Elizabeth Taylor is simply gorgeous as the bride-to-be, and Joan Bennett does very fine as the mother. Vincente Minnelli directs very well, but I can't help but wonder if this would have been better in color with all the dramatic settings during the wedding scenes. Nevertheless, the many colorful emotions that come with a wedding, both angry and happy, are finely displayed in this solid, well-made movie that explores one of life's greatest pleasures on the screen. This is a film for all kinds of people.

Father of the Bride fmovies. There's an old saying that the best ideas are the simplest. This is only partly true. The best ideas often stem from a basic concept, but one which yields wide-ranging and elaborate results, and then only if pulled off properly. Father of the Bride has a simple idea at its heart – a straightforward romantic comedy, told from the point of view of someone on the periphery of the romance. However that idea provides the basis for a neatly structured picture that is both funny and endearing.

The screenplay, by the fantastic but rarely lauded husband-and-wife writing duo Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, tells a story on two levels. The actual events of the picture of chart the romance and wedding of a young couple, and this is more or less all that actually takes place on screen. However, the device of a voice-over narrative, as well as set-pieces such as the engagement party shown entirely from Spencer Tracy's position as involuntary butler, make this undoubtedly his story. The voice-over was a popular feature of thrillers around this time, but here it serves as a comical inner monologue and commentary. Telling the story through the father's eyes ultimately allows Goodrich and Hackett to make this a tale not of romantic love but of family and paternal affection, and one that is more moving than dozens of run-of-the-mill romcoms.

Director Vincente Minnelli was perhaps an odd choice for this project. Having had his biggest successes with musicals, his flowing, flamboyant style could have been a bit over-the-top for such a small-scale real-world setting. However Minnelli's tendency to lead the audience in a certain direction, and his skillful control of elements within the frame bring a lot to Father of the Bride. He is careful to always keep the wedding story going, often literally in the background, while putting Spencer Tracy in the foreground to give us his expressions and reactions. Usually the background goings-on are very busy, helping them to balance out, as well as giving a better comedy effect as Tracy grumps about before the camera. In the scene where the Bankses meet the Dunstons, Minnelli begins successive shots with a close-up of Tracy's martini glass, to give the whole scene the overtone that he is getting more and more drunk as he speaks. One of Minnelli's brightest ideas is to shoot the chaotic wedding rehearsal in one long take from a distant high angle. Not only does this allow the comedy to unfold naturally, it introduces us to the setting but in a slightly detached way. This gives all the more contrast and intensity to the following nightmare sequence, which is all done in close-ups with dozens of cuts.

In the titular role Spencer Tracy gives a typically engaging yet understated performance. This kind of thing was really Tracy's forte. He is essentially a comedy character, since it's his grouchiness and his bewilderment that underlie most of the funny bits. But he's not a wild comic – he's also very believable and very human, and more importantly someone we can like and sympathise with. Although Joan Bennett plays her role completely straight and very reserved, it makes sense for the two of them to be a screen couple. And while Katherine Hepburn had the best chemistry with Tracy and it was always nice to see them on screen together, Bennett is the more appropriate actress here, because she is more sedate and will not threaten to upstage Tracy, whose movie it is after all.

And Elizabeth Taylor, a huge star even then and arguably the female

Vincent Minelli deserves all the credit in directing this delicious 1950 MGM comedy. The mere idea of having Spencer Tracy playing the father of the bride, after his many years of portraying heavier characters, is in itself a triumph!

The film was tremendously successful because of the casting of Elizabeth Taylor, in all her beauty. Ms. Taylor is an example why more fathers will go into the poor house when their daughters decide to marry, and must have an elaborate wedding.

Of course, those were other times, poor Stanley Banks didn't have to spend so much money to marry her daughter. Had it been today, it must have cost a small fortune to do a modest ceremony with a few hundred guests. The way they figured the cost of the affair was less than three dollars per person! Incredible!

In a way, this picture points out to the basic problems of having a social event of this magnitude when the parents are well connected, as is the case with the Banks. In fact, watching the reception, we realize most of the people attending the celebration are friends of the parents. We hardly see any young friends of the couple, with the exception of the ones in the wedding party. Imagine having to spend so much money knowing most marriages will end in divorce! Oh well.

Spencer Tracy makes a wonderful father of the bride. He was at the top of his career; he makes us believe he is the man losing his daughter and having to pay for it in the process. Joan Bennett makes a delightful Ellie, the mother of the marrying girl. Elizabeth Taylor not only was beautiful, but in this film, one can't keep the eyes away from her for a second.

The supporting cast was excellent. Mr. Minelli brings all these characters together in a comedy, that although a bit dated, will charm anyone because of the excellent cast in it.

FATHER OF THE BRIDE tells the tale of how the once perfectly serene Banks household, led by genial would-be patriarch Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy), deals with the trials and tribulations that come with the wedding of the family's sweet daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) to her earnest suitor Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor). Pretty much anything that can cause a father's hair to gather even more grey streaks happens in the run-up to this wedding--first, the bills (as indicated in the tagline to the film) start pouring in... then he realises that his wife Ellie (a Joan Bennett almost unrecognisable from her role as Amy March in 1933's LITTLE WOMEN) never got the church wedding she wanted, so he gives in and splashes out for Kay. The guest lists swell beyond his expectations and financial means; the caterer belittles the planned menu *and* the Buckley home; and Kay fights with Buckley and (temporarily, but hair-raisingly) calls off the wedding. In fact, amidst the mess and chaos of the actual wedding itself, the father of the bride doesn't even get to kiss the bride goodbye.

All this might seem mighty familiar to anyone who's seen a 1991 film which, oddly enough, bears the same title, but stars Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and (in a hilarious turn as the effete wedding coordinator) Martin Short instead. The film is, of course, a remake, retaining a great deal of the original 1950 film's dialogue and situations, while updating it for modern times and developing the relationship of the characters further. For example, the two Banks brothers are eliminated for a younger baby brother for Annie (no longer Kay), played by Kieran Culkin. As I recall, the relationship between father and daughter is also better fleshed-out in the remake, as is that between the patriarch and matriarch of the family.

However, even though the 1991 remake is one of the most credible remakes of a classic film ever (I would willingly watch the remake--not something I can say for several other similarly presumptuous films), there are still some areas in which it falls far short of the original. Almost all of these areas have to do with the fact that the remake is lacking its own Spencer Tracy--it is his grasp of the role that makes the original film worth seeing to begin with; otherwise one could just as easily watch the remake and not lose very much in the translation. While Steve Martin does a great job as the title character, Spencer Tracy does a *defining* job. Diane Keaton just about every other scene from Martin (as does Kieran Culkin); Spencer Tracy dominates all the scenes he's in. He plays his role perfectly, with just the right amount of frustration, genuine bemusement, and abiding adoration for his only daughter.

One scene early on in the film captures exactly what Tracy contributes to his role (as he does to all his others): Stanley lies restless in bed, unable to sleep for worrying over Kay's announcement of her intent to marry Buckley. When he wakes Ellie up and starts complaining, watch Tracy as he keeps listing the different things there are to be worried about--he keeps fidgeting on the bed, almost lying back and then snapping upright again when a new horrifying thought enters his mind. The entire scene just rings of truth and you realise just what a great actor Spencer Tracy is, even in slight fare like FATHER OF THE BRIDE.

In the end, although FATHER OF THE BRIDE has a clever script and a generally good supporting cast (Taylor appears beautiful but rather blank most of the time), it is held